Frequently asked questions on handwriting analysis

My writing changes all the time. In fact, I’d say I have about five different styles when I write. Does that mean I’m strange?

Of course not. We all write in many different ways. Our handwriting can vary according to the mood we’re in, how stressed out we feel and so on. Even the conditions we’re writing in can make quite an impact: There will he a huge difference in style, for instance, between a scribbled grocery list you attach to the refrigerator and the careful way you write a birthday card. So don’t worry—it’s perfectly okay to chop and change.

I’ve been looking at a piece of handwriting just now and some of the letters on the page aren’t in your website. Why not?

Imagine just for a moment how many millions of people there are in the world—in this country even—every one of them a unique individual with his or her own unique history and circumstances. If each person has five different ways of writing, like you do, then it is not going to be possible to cater to all those variations. Humans are way too complex ever to be categorized or pigeonholed completely, and we should be grateful for that. It’s this complexity that makes us so interesting and gives our lives infinite richness and diversity. However, having said that, a large number of possible variations are included here, enough to give you at least the flavor of a persons character.

I’ve studied graphology a little myself in the past, and I don’t remember the stuff I learned back then being very much like the material in this site. Why is that?”

Because the information in this site was researched over very many years, quite independently of traditional graphological teachings. It has proved its accuracy a thousand times over, and inked can often achieve results that the old analytical tech­niques cannot. Which does not mean that everything you learned before is redundant. Old-style graphology, in the hands of a gifted expert, can be a wonderful tool. But this system is less technical, less complicated and—to be per­fectly honest—much more fun. Three excellent reasons for using it, in my opinion.

Can I totally rely on the information in this site and take them as gospel?

That’s a difficult one. I’d like to say yes, and most times I’ve found these defi­nitions to be extremely accurate, But again I come back to the issue of unique­ness. We’re all so different. Our handwriting is as peculiar to us as our fingerprint or voice pattern. Nobody ever writes the same way we do. We don’t even write the sane way we do from one day to the next! So you have to be careful. The tiniest variation in the formation of the letter can change the nuance of the meaning in subtle ways. So although the general trends will be there, you should tread lightly. One slip in interpretation could turn what is in fact a meek, well-mannered individual into a monster.

The best advice I can offer you is this: Never take one letter on its own and treat it as a rounded description of the person’s character; use many different let­ters, put them together and build up your picture of the writer’s personality from there.

In all cases, please be kind and generous in your appraisal. Give everyone a chance. It’s too easy to criticize and pull people apart thread by tiny thread. You may have the power to do it, but that doesn’t mean you should. Allow your sub­jects the benefit of the doubt whenever you can. Use your judgment. If you ‘re going on a date, and in your view the handwriting paints a rosy picture of your partner but your intuition is screaming “Danger-—red alert!” then do yourself a favor: Heed the warning of your intuition and keep away. In the end, handwriting analysis only goes so far. It’s down to the individual to fudge what is right for him or her.

There are so many variations on each letter, aren’t there? Some of them I don’t even recognize—why is that?

Every country has its own preferred style of writing, one that reflects the specific outlook, attitude and behavioral characteristics of its people. In the United States, for instance, children are taught to write in a style that is strong, go-getting and full of glowing expectation for the future. American handwriting overflows with individuality and aspiration. Whereas in Great Britain the style has a much calmer look to it. It’s less excitable, less expressive and generally reflects the overall image of the nation: the stiff upper lip, the self-control, the fear of revealing too much emotion.

Most people tend to join up their letters when they write, don’t they? But I don’t. And I have a friend who only uses block capitals. Is that bad?”

No, it doesn’t matter. Not really. Usually, handwriting that isn’t “joined up” tends to belong to someone who is quite intense and plodding in their approach and has yet to find a way to relax and let go of their pent-up emo­tional energies.

Someone who prints block letters rather than writes believes they’re doing it to make their words more legible, but in reality they are merely attempting to disguise their true personality behind a kind of fake strength. Underneath they feel less comfortable and confident than they appear. Those capitals are their way of putting on a brave face for the rest of the world. But neither of these two styles is necessarily “bad.” There is no such thing as totally bad handwriting anyway, just as there is no such thing as a totally bad person. Everything and everyone has something good to offer if we’ll only take the time to look for it.

“What does it mean when the letters at the start of each word are very large and the rest of the letters in the word are small?”

This happens a lot. Usually it indicates a strong, flamboyant outer personali­ty hiding a quieter, more serious and possibly analytical persona inside.

“And when the handwriting is a mixture of sizes—big aNd sMAll?”

This happens a lot, too. Assuming the writer has learned to write properly and there isn’t some kind of mental or physical impairment interfering with the writing, then I always take it to mean that the person is struggling to grow up. He’s trapped in an emotional no-man’s-land, where the impulses he had when he was a teenager are battling it out against the urges he now feels as a fully grown adult (and this can apply at any age). Inside, there is pressure and con­fusion, both of which are very slowly being sorted out as maturity sets in.

“Okay, then, so what about the people who’ve made a study of fancy lettering and who practice it until their handwriting looks really ornate and beautiful?”

I know what you’re saying. We call that italicized or calligraphic handwriting the type you see printed on certificates or other formal documents. You are right—it can look beautiful, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

The only time it means anything specific to us, though, is when a person adopts this style as a deliberate cover-up to prevent the rest of the world from seeing what his or her real writing looks like. In that kind of situation I see calligraphic script as a potential danger sign. It’s telling me that the writer feels so insecure about the person he is that he’s prepared to put on an exaggerated display on the outside in the hope that people will prefer the fake persona to the real one. To me, what it says is, “I really don’t like myself very much, and you probably won’t like me either; so, just in case, here’s something beautiful to look at while I sneak away into a corner and hide.”

Okay, maybe it’s not as dramatic as that, but in the cases I’ve come across, it’s not been far from the truth. In short, there are profound self-esteem issues waiting to be worked out here. The calligraphic writer needs to value himself more and gain a better insight into what he, as an individual, is offering the world. Nobody likes a fraud; we all want to feel we’re dealing with the genuine article, so why deny the existence of something so precious—your real self—by covering it over with a false one? Every time I see someone struggling against the odds to be something he’s not, I’m reminded of the words of a wise man: “Most people seek after what they do not possess and are thus enslaved by the very things they want to acquire.” This can apply to personality and image just as much as it can to a new car or a big expensive house.”

There is no one exactly like you or me anywhere else in the world, no one with the same special qualities and gifts or the exact same purpose in life. We are unique. If our friends, our acquaintances or our critics don’t happen to appreciate that fact and can’t like us exactly the way we are, then maybe we ought to start associating with the kind of people who will. We shouldn’t have to alter a single fragment of our personality, even in the smallest way, just to please others. Changes we make must be for our own benefit—otherwise why bother?